Size 12
by Lady of the Cards
Summary: Roxas only needs one semester of a fine arts credit before he can start his senior year. After cycling though the choices he has made his desicion: Art. Unfortunately, it's full so he turns to his last choice: dance
1. A Commodity of Oddities

Author's notes: After A Hand To Pull the Trigger, I'm quiet happy I get to write about something else. No more suicide. (suicide + stress dead writer) Happy dancing time for me!  This time, there won't be like too many, or any little mysteries to solve. This is strictly romance and…um…happy?

I'm writing this one in third person because it seems to be better than first.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 1:

A Commodity of Oddities

A woman, thin as a toothpick stood at the front of the room, eyes focused onto the clipboard in her hands, calling out names. She stopped at one name to look up at the sea of girls to see one of the beings possessing a Y-chromosome. "Roxas?"

"Here," came a weak male voice, standing in the back of the room, away from the females. It was odd that a male would be in such a feminine class. It made one wonder if he had dark intentions, rather than an innocent will to wipe away a half credit of fine arts. The girls looked over him, obviously intrigued by his presence. Yet, glad his blonde hair, shimmering blue eyes, and good looks where not below expectations of the ideal guy appearance.

"Hmm…a boy…interesting," the woman observed out loud, ignoring the dainty giggling of the girls, admiring the male. Roxas, who heard the woman's remark, turned his face away to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"If it were my choice," he whispered to himself, "I would be in art and not in this girly class."

After the roll was checked off, the instructor called everyone to the middle of the wooden floor, in front of the mirrors and commanded them to sit while she sat in a chair. "Ladies, and guy," she winked at the blonde boy, "this is Dance IV, meaning everyone in here should be a senior and not just really good, correct." The girls replied with nods and 'yes' but Roxas raised a hand.

"Mrs.…uh…"

"Ms. Gainsborough," she smiled sweetly at the student and let him continue.

"Yeah…Ms. Gainsborough, I haven't been in your previous dance classes, doesn't that mean I should be in Dance I?"

"Not at all, Roxas, the dance class you are assigned to is determined by your grade level."

"Why?" the teen persisted on.

The brunette giggled, "Because, for me, it's easier to track who is in what class. Rather than trying to figure out how many dance classes of mine you have been in. Now, is that all?" The blonde nodded and she continued, "This semester we will be studying lyrical and hip hop." There were some cheers from the 'wild' girls, only in dance for the hip hop, "but that won't be until the last quarter of the year." There was a bit of groaning but that didn't stop Ms. Gainsborough. "Since we're doing lyrical first, I need you to each get a pair of the correct dancing shoes. Many of you already have the proper foot ware from last semester." She paused and looked around, "who here was in my class last semester?" It seemed all hands went up into the air except one, "who was not?" Only the blonde boy's hand went up. "Okay then, I don't need to elaborate more, Roxas, you can get one of these ladies to explain how the class works." She glanced up at the time, "I have some business to attend to, but to make things quick: bring shoes and clothes to dress out in tomorrow." The teacher with the pink bow in her hair got up and retreated to her office room on the other side, shutting the door behind her. In the window placed in her office giving her students a view of what she was doing, she picked up the phone and began to dial a number, soon to be wrapped up in busy work instead of teaching.

Roxas on the other hand, was having a difficult time as to who to ask what to do. The girls had migrated to their packs, giggling and gossiping about who knew what. He took a deep breath and walked up to the nearest girl, a petite female with long blonde hair, "excuse me, what kind of shoes do we need?"

The girl turned around at the tap on her shoulder and smiled warmly at Roxas, "lyrical shoes. You can buy them at the local shoe store. They aren't too expensive, just about twenty munnies."

"Is there a specific color?"

"No, just make sure you have the correct shoes."

"Lyrical shoes: got it!" He turned away but was stopped by more information leaving the girl's mouth.

"You can also get some dance paws."

"What are those?"

"They're just pads that slip over your toes. They're a bit more comfortable than jazz shoes; they feel a bit more…part of your foot, rather than a shoe."

Roxas thanked her for the information, "thanks, I'll keep that in mind." With nothing more to be said, he walked to the back of the room and pulled out a black binder from his back-pack. Fraternizing with these girls were far from his mind, therefore he turned to his studies to keep him company for the next hour and a half. He pulled out a page of notes over the history of Hallow Bastion and began his process of memorization.

* * *

Sadly, no one had informed the male that size ten, in men's sizes, could not be found at the local shoe store. But how could these girls know? Their petite bodies reflect their slender feet.

"Roxas, why are you not wearing any shoes?" He was dressed out in a simple pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, but no shoes. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to deduct points from your daily grade. Be sure to get those shoes soon."

"But, they didn't have my size," he argued but was only given a pitiful face from the instructor.

"Ok, then. I'll let you off the hook today but tomorrow, if you have no shoes, I'm taking off points." Roxas sighed and hoped for better luck today.

The teacher put of her clip board and walked out to the front of the room, facing the class. "Let's start warming up," she said with a smile. Ms. Gainsborough led the class through a stretching routine far too advanced for Roxas. He struggled trying to touch the floor, bending over but only succeeded in barely grazing his ankles.

"Don't worry, in time you'll get better." Roxas jumped at the male voice behind him. He turned to see a lean student with flaming red hair. He wore eye liner like the emo crowd but his clothes said 'punk.' It struck Roxas odd to see two triangles on his face, one under each eye.

"What do you mean? Look at them! They're so flexible, men weren't made that way," he replied with an angry tone.

"I beg to differ, Roxas," said the dance teacher behind him, going to the red haired student to greet him. "Roxas, this is Axel. I believe he is a male but is much more flexible than any of these girls in the room." At this point, the students had noticed their teacher was missing in action and found her with Axel. They smiled at each other to see another handsome boy in the room.

"That's cool…I guess," Roxas adverted his eyes away, not really interested in flexibility.

"From now on, he will be helping you in this class."

The blonde's hair spun back around, "what?!"

"You told me you were never in any of my classes, and seeing how you can barely touch your toes, you're going to need some help. But not from me." She smiled at Axel who smirked back.

"Looks like we'll be buddies for the next few weeks." Roxas's face depicted unease rather than glee. "Don't worry," Axel chuckled as he patted his back, "I'll get you ready just in time for the recital!"

The blonde's face morphed into pure horror, "recital?"

"Yes, every unit we hold a recital to show your peers what you have learned. It tends to grab more people into my class," the teacher giggled. "It'll be even greater this year now that I have a male in it!"

* * *

"Okay…a little farther…just a little more…"

"Axel stop! That hurts!" The red head let up on his hold on Roxas's shoulders. The teen straightened his back from the previous position: being cramming in between his own legs. "Why do I need to do this? Why can't I dance like them? Better yet, what the hell am I doing in this class!?" Roxas looked over at the girls and how they did their pirouettes perfectly in the routine Ms. Gainsborough was walking them through.

"Because they, unlike you, were in Ms. Gainsborough's previous dance classes and are much more advanced than you."

"Maybe, if I was in Dance I, I wouldn't be going trough this! Better yet, if Art wasn't full I'd actually not be degrading myself like this!" Roxas referred to how Axel slid into his right-legged splits with great ease and expected the newbie to do the same.

"Don't lose hope, Roxas, keep trying! Soon, you'll be up there dancing with them!" They momentarily watched the girls practice a feminine maneuver, "actually, you'll probably be just practicing with me."

"Why aren't you dancing? You seem good," Roxas looked over at Axel who was now in his left-leg splits and laying his head on his knee.

"I wish I could but my grades are always very poor. Ms. Gainsborough doesn't allow anyone to dance in the recital if they're failing a class. But no matter, I still have my dancing outside of school."

"So, you really are a dancer. How long?" asked Roxas.

"'Bout twelve years or so?" Roxas's eyes widened.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, my specialty is ballet and lyrical. But enough about me, what about you? I can tell you don't want to be here…ever." Axel read Roxas like a book, but of course, who couldn't when he was written like he was large, bolded print?

"I just need a half of a fine arts credit. I've been kinda procrastinating about it, but this is my final semester. I have to get it." The blonde sighed, regretting leaving the accumulation of credits to the last minute.

"You're graduating?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda nervous." Roxas looked away, no one had ever talked to him about himself for this long. He wasn't the most interesting person in the school.

"But why dance?" Axel became intrigued with is peer, wanting to know more so teaching wouldn't be so uncomfortable.

"I did art before and I tried to get it again, but the class was full. And before you ask, no I don't sing, or play an instrument. And I don't act. Dance just _had_ to be the only one left."

Axel chuckled, "I'm sure you'll like it. Dance will grow on you and maybe, you'll start taking classes outside of school! I promise: dancing isn't as bad as you think."

Roxas had a worried face, "it's not the fact I don't think dance will be fun, it's mainly my peers. What will they think of me? They'll call me gay and crap." He looked at the ground, fearing this acquaintance might in fact be 'gay' and he just offended him.

Axel continued to smile, "it's not that bad. Hey, look at me," the red head reached for the blonde and tilted his chin up from the floor, forcing him to look into his eyes. "I had to put up with that kind of stuff for twelve years. Sure, it's mean but hey, not only do I look cool on stage," he made eye contact with a girl in the room and smirked at her, causing her to giggle and confide to her friends about the attractiveness of their fellow classmate, "the girls love me!" Axel flashed the same grin at Roxas, trying to put the same charm on him.

"Sorry pal," The blonde got up from the floor and attempted to reach over and touch the ground again, "that's not going to work on me." Roxas's finger tips just barely grazed the wooden floor.

* * *

Well a new story, new personalities, blah, blah, blah…I realize that this chapter is a bit short. The first chapter of everything I write. Well, we'll see how many people like it. Then I'll make chapter two and elaborate on the plot more.

I hope you enjoyed it! Please, review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


	2. The Freaks

Author's notes: No more death! Yay! I had a terrible nightmare about 'aiding my dog in her death' the other night. Jeez…

My dance recital is in about a week. So not looking forward to it…especially when the girl who's only in dance because she wants to do hip hop is too stubborn to throw her head down because she didn't want to mess up her straightened hair… _-kills-_

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 2:

The Freaks

"No," she bluntly said, straightening the papers on her desk, not looking at the red-haired youth.

"Why? I'm a fucking senior! I should be able to! And why should _he_ get it?!"

"Language," she reminded. "I'm sorry, Axel, but you cannot participate in the recital this year…or…in fact, any or the other years. Your grades are just pitiful. Roxas is just…great! You know what I'm talking about, you've seen his grades." The brunette stapled the papers together and set them down in a black paper basket.

"Is that what's holding me back?" Axel's eyes lightened up with hope. "I can get my-"

"Axel, stop. We've been through this before. You say the same thing but nothing ever gets accomplished! Now, unless if you want to talk to me about any good dance routine ideas, I believe we're done here." She stood up from her chair and walked out of her office, closing the door behind her, leaving Axel in to ponder his thoughts. "Hello girls…and Roxas!" She gave a friendly wink to the blonde boy sitting in his sweats, a distance behind the girls. He shrugged it off and adverted his gaze elsewhere.

"Today, we will be picking out music for the recital. Discuss among yourselves what you like and write it on a piece of paper. Then, give it to me. Any questions?"

"What style?" a girl with auburn hair asked.

"That's a good question." A silence filled the air for a few moments. "I'm not sure yet but pick a variety." The girls got up and went back into their packs, leaving Roxas alone, once again.

"What should I do?"

"Oh, Axel will be with you in a second. Lemme' go get him." Ms. Gainsborough smiled as she stuck her head back into her office. "Axel, Roxas is waiting for you." Axel walked out of the office and dragged his feet over to blonde boy.

"Come on, let's get this over with," he droned, walking to 'their' corner. Roxas followed and began to stretch like his teacher was.

"Are we going to stretch the whole time?" he inquired.

"No," Axel replied harshly, "we're going to be practicing some positions."

"What?!" Roxas gasped out loud as his head jerked up from the floor.

The teen doing his splits cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ballet and jazz positions." Roxas shaped his lips into an 'O' and nodded, going back to his stretching, ignoring the feminine giggles behind him.

* * *

"Okay. One, two, three, four, five. Got it memorized?" Axel placed his feet in specific areas as he spoke the numbers. "You try." Roxas mimicked him with great precision. "Now the arms. Go, into first." The mentor got behind him and positioned the blonde's arms as he changed his feet positions. "You're good." After demonstrating where his arms and feet should be, Axel tested him. "Show me fourth, second, fifth- good, Roxas! Good!" He smiled at the newbie, congratulating him, "you're actually pretty good. But of course, this was the easy stuff. Now, let's try a pirouette."

The two went through class, practicing all the basic terms, getting Roxas as close to beyond amateur as possible.

"Good job, Roxas. I thought you'd actually complain and whine but you actually listened to me. I'm surprised." The red-haired teen walked next to the significantly shorter one, escorting him to lunch.

"Well…I just thought I should try." His eyes darted to the left and went back, signifying he had lied. Luckily, Axel not knowing him well did not know this. _"I actually hated it all, sorry Axel," _Roxas thought to himself, watching his feet, _"I wish I was crippled so I wouldn't have to degrade myself with such maneuvers. I never had to do anything so…gay, why start now?"_ He looked up at his teacher and sighed, _"I'm sorry, Axel. Sorry I'm not as passionate about dance like you are."_

"So, I talked to Ms. Gainsborough before class. It really pisses me off that I can't participate in the recital. Four years, sucking up to her preppy ass, and she won't even let one failing grade slip under her nose." Axel pouted and clenched his fists, displaying his hate.

"Personally, I think you're the lucky one." Roxas bit his tongue after he spoke. _"Shit! Did I say that out loud?!"_ The blonde boy stopped when he noticed his companion wasn't walking with him.

A shocked expression engulfed Axel's face. "What do you mean? Roxas, how I envy you for your grades." He took a step forward and grabbed Roxas's cranium, mesmerized by it. "What I would give to have your brain." The shorter boy jumped back, surprised by the zombified Axel, but Axel shook it off signifying it as a joke.

"I shouldn't have said that, but I'm sure it's obvious. I hate that class, I hate dancing. I only put up with it for the credit."

"Damn…" Axel circled his toe on the floor, thinking. "Then you're really not going to like this," his eyes met Roxas's, locking each other in the conversation, "Ms. Gainsborough is planning on having you in a solo with one of the girls. If I hated dance, I'd do the 'me' thing and start failing one of your classes."

The blonde boy dropped his bag which slipped off his shoulder, shocked by what he just said. "What? Me? Solo? No way!"

"It's been a long time since a guy, that's passing, has been in dance. Well, actually, you're the only guy." Axel leaned over and picked up Roxas's bag, handing it to him.

Roxas slung his bag over his shoulder, his face drained of color at the thought of performing. _"I'm so going to get made fun of. Man in tights? As sex addicted society is today, I don't think I want to show off my package." _The blonde boy walked into the cafeteria with Axel, who was making excuses as to why dancing wasn't so bad. _"Easy for him to say, he's used to it." _

"Hey, gotta go, enjoy your lunch," Axel parted to sit with a table of a handful of other teens who shared artistic similarities. The teen turned around and gave an apologetic smile, "oh! And sorry I had to break the news to you." Axel switched back around and picked a spot at the table. Roxas noticed the others who sat there were just as…different. One with a mullet sitting next to a guitar case, one with multiple piercings along his ears fumbling with cards in his hands, another with an off-shade of pink hair with a sketch book clutched to his chest, an emo looking one with his nose in a book, and finally one with bright blue hair, whom Axel sat next to.

"So, you gonna stare at the freaks all day or are you going to eat lunch?" Roxas whipped his head around to see his best friend grinning at him: Hayner.

"Sorry, I must be out of it today."

"Like always, 'ya blonde!" Hayner gave a friendly ruffle to Roxas's hair before trotting off to their normal sitting spot.

The blonde took his seat next to his best friend and across from his other two best friends: Olette and Pence. "So, Roxas, how's dance?" the brunette girl joked.

"Ugh, I think I might have a duet…" Roxas pulled out his flattened sandwich and stared at it.

"Eww…Roxas on stage in tights?" Hayner groaned, throwing down his own sandwich.

_"Exactly," _thought Roxas distastefully. He lifted is food and stared at it for a moment, thinking of a plan to escape this catastrophe.

"You know, that blue haired guy scares me," Pence started, "he's in my communications class and he just did a speech over dancing and flexibility." The blonde's attention was changed from his food to the conversation. "For his physical representation, he did the splits!" Pence winced as a chill went up his spine. "Seriously, it was wrong. Guys just look so weird doing that stuff."

Roxas frowned, "thanks, Pence, I was practicing those today along with-" he stopped talking, not wanting to explain the feminine pirouettes.

Unfortunately, Olette's curiosity wasn't going to let his unfinished sentence slide so easily. "With what?" She took a bite out of her carrot stick, the vegetable making a loud crunch as her teeth grinded it to mush.

"N-nothing." With his lunch unfinished, Roxas got up and threw it away. His blue eyes scanned the lunch area and caught a glimpse of the 'freak' table. The 'freaks' were all looking at him while Axel was pointing. Roxas quickly adverted his gaze and sat back down at the table. He tried the shrug off the feeling of being watched, observed by the unknown, but he could feel their eyes stabbing into their back.

"Hmmm…" Olette pondered, "I really do wonder what you did because that table keeps on looking at you."

"'Ya got a point there, Olette. I think Roxas might be becoming a freak," Hayner leaned in closer to Roxas, "what _exactly_ were you doing in dance?"

"A pirouette! A damn **_pirouette_**!" The tables within hearing distance turned to look at Roxas, who had just humiliated himself.

"What's this?" A teen walked up to the table with his three 'lackeys' walking behind him. "Roxas doing a pirouette? Aren't those a bit girly?"

"Damn, Seifer," hissed Hayner.

The blonde bully looked over at the table who was still watching Roxas, "looks like you caught the attention of the freaks." He smirked at Roxas, "you gonna hump 'em, fairy boy?"

Hayner jumped up from his seat, "shut up, Seifer! Who are you to call gay? You're the one with the damn mid-drift!"

Seifer laughed and so did his followers. "Hey, who exactly get more 'action' around here anyway? _You_?" He and his gang laughed even harder and Hayner took his seat in defeat.

"Don't let him get to you, he's an ass," Olette insisted to Hayner, knowing his game too well.

Seifer noticed, "what was that, loser? You want some of this?" The bully lifted his shirt, exposing his well-built body. "'Cause I wouldn't mind, except you'd have to charge double the price for your 'services.'" The girl gasped and hung her head in shame. For once, as much as she tried to block it out, Seifer's words have hit her _hard_.

Roxas took a stand, preparing himself for whatever blow this guy could give him. "Leave them alone!"

"What that's it? No comebacks? Not even you tubby?" Pence, who didn't even do anything frowned and hid his face from the curs. Roxas had nothing left to say. What could he say after his friends had their confidence stripped from them? "That's what I thought." Seifer and his gang turned around, cackling as they walked around the cafeteria, ruining any other's day that got in the way.

"Sorry you guys."

Olette looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes, "its ok, Roxas. Don't feel bad. Jerks like that get nowhere."

Her words meant nothing to him if she wasn't smiling. Roxas attempted to smile but it came up weak. He looked over at the 'freak' table: Axel and the blue-haired-guy were absent. Roxas shrugged his shoulders and forgot about it.

"I'm going to kill that guy," cursed Hayner, biting his thumb, formulating evil thoughts of revenge. "Such an ass…"

_Ding…dong…_

The bell rang, signifying lunch was over. Roxas was the last to get up, thinking about how he and his friends were just pushed down. "_I need to get out of dance…_" was the only thing he could think of, wanting to keep his reputation clean.

As Roxas picked up his things, he felt a hand on his shoulder along with hot air against his ear, "don't worry, we'll take care of him." Roxas whipped around, a light blush on his face from the tickle of a breath. No one he recognized could be seen with the flowing crowd of people. It could have been anyone.

* * *

Ok, my dance recital wasn't so bad. My teacher has ruined dance for me though. I found out she's been lying to my class and making fun of my class behind our backs. Also, she has also said some weight things about everyone in general. Like she's one to talk, Mrs. Drumstick thighs. Bitch.

But other than that, that's mainly why it took me so long to update. Dace was not particularly one of my favorite things at the moment.

Please review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


	3. Friends Where You Need Them Most

Author's notes: -sigh and slams head on keyboard- Result:

Vgfghvgfgvf7676hyuhyuuuuhy76u76hyu76hyuu

I seem to have been getting this question concerning the title a lot: "why is it called Size 12? I thought Roxas's size is 10."

Answer: Roxas's size is 10. I'm not an amateur writer who makes stupid mistakes. I love to write and I am very serious about it, so don't mess around with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 3:

Friends Where You Need Them Most

"Ms. Gainsborough?" inquired a worried Roxas, "is it true?"

The dance teacher sighed and began to idly twirl a lock of hair with her finger. "Axel told me you wouldn't like it, but…" she trailed off and looked up at Roxas from her chair, biting her lip with hesitation.

"But…dance isn't my thing. Seriously, I don't like it and I think I'm just going to ruin it for the poor girl that has to dance with me."

"Roxas, don't say that," Ms. Gainsborough stood up from her seat behind her desk and placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "Namine is an excellent dancer. She will be most likely making you look better than worse. Also, I watch you and Axel practicing, you're quite good for a beginner." Female students began to enter the dance room, chatting away. The teacher looked up and smiled at Roxas as Axel entered too. "Why don't you go get dressed? Class is about to begin."

Roxas gave up and left for the dressing room with a frown on his face. "_This woman has so much confidence in me,_" he thought, "_there's no way I can talk her out of this…_"

* * *

"Roxas, what the hell is up with you? Did that Seifer get to you? Or did you forget what I taught you yesterday?" Axel tapped his foot, annoyed with the blonde's lack of care for his turns. 

"Sorry, I'm thinking."

"It had better be about dance," Axel snorted.

"Oh, don't worry," ",,,replied Roxas; his sudden enthusiastic words mocking Axel's taste for dance. "it _is_."

Indeed, Roxas was thinking about dance and not just smart mouthing with his student-teacher. He formulated within his mind how to avoid the predicament he had somehow placed himself in. Roxas had some appreciation for dance, but it depleted as he was forced to practice such maneuvers for the sake of a recital he wanted no part of. "_Why can't Axel do this,_" he cursed to himself, "_he's the better dancer. Plus, he loves it._" Roxas's blue eyes focused on the red head who was currently talking to a blonde girl whom Roxas knew as Namine.

Her glittering periwinkle eyes widened with amazement as she watched Axel show off the durability of his joints much farther than the other girls could do. Although, the glint of lust in Namine's eyes showed she was more amazed with Axel's features, rather than his abilities.

"_They_ should be dancing together…" Roxas saw to his right a girl with reddish hair had walked next to him, idly watching Axel. She looked over at Roxas and noticed her comment was not just an aside. "Oh!" she gasped, her blue eyes widened in shock, "No offense, or anything."

Roxas felt as though his burden of the recital just got heavier. "You know?"

"About the duet?"

"Yeah…"

"Yep," she nodded and continued to watch the red-haired teen. "Axel is…" she paused and watched him do an elaborate leap demonstration, "…a strong dancer."

Roxas turned his attention to Axel, who was now approaching him. His leaps had now caught the attention of the other girls who stopped what they were doing to watch him. He displayed a wide grin, "Enough pirouettes, Roxas, I feel a leap is in order."

* * *

"Come on man," groaned Hayner, attempting to make his best friend stop bashing his forehead into his ham sandwich. Hayner reached for the blonde's shoulders and pulled him into an upright position. Roxas held high for a few seconds before timbering onto his lunch again. 

"Roxas, I don't think it could have been that bad," argued Olette, fawning over her completed psychology homework.

Pence pitched in, "Yeah! How bad could a couple of jumps have been?"

Roxas, who had been digging his face into his whole wheat, turned his face upward to Pence, his head still resting in the plastic protected food. "How bad? My friend, I don't think you understand…"

Hayner let out a chuckle, "You can't be serious. It's not like you turned gay or something," his eyes momentarily flashing over the 'freaks' table.

Roxas couldn't help but let out a quick snort before becoming serious again. "No Hayner, it was much worse…"

Hayner now took a serious attitude, treating this situation with more sensitivity. "Don't tell me…" Roxas looked up. He could hear the urgency in his friend's voice and knew they were on the same page. "You passed gas in front of all those ladies, didn't you?"

The other three's jaws dropped at their friend's dense personality.

"Damn Roxas, that's pretty bad…"

The infuriated blonde roughly grabbed Hayner's collar and pulled him close. "You dumbass," he hissed before throwing him back into his seat.

"Well…I don't get it," commented the usually intelligent girl, who was fast at catching the smallest details, "what _did_ you do?"

Roxas calmed down and sat in his seat. He laid his head on his chest, allowing his blonde bangs hide his blue eyes. "I…" his voice got softer and the ruckus of the lunch room drowned him out.

"Répéte, s'il vous plaît?" asked Pence in French.

"I was…" again, his voice was lost to the roaring crowd.

"Dude, if you don't want to tell us, it's fine," Hayner looked away and pouted, upset that he knew less about his best friend than he wanted. He argued with Roxas some more, "I mean, next time, don't start to say something but leave me hangin'. Just don't tell me, jerk…"

Roxas jumped out of his chair and slammed his fists on the cafeteria table. "**You dumbass, I was good, excellent, phenomenal!**" His voice traveled a small radius around the table. The students sitting within that radius turned around and stopped to gander at the fuming Roxas. Hating to be the center of attention, he sat down, and his peers returned to their lunch activities.

"Well, _that_ was embarrassing," commented Pence.

"What, the shouting or the leaps?" Hayner said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite fairy boy?" Hayner stopped his stupid grinning and was now showing a face of disgust for the teen that walked over to their table, along with his followers.

"Seifer, just leave us alone!" pleaded Olette, remembering the day before.

Seifer threw himself down at the table menacingly, frightening Olette. "Why? Do I scare you?" He got back up, grabbing the homework laid in front of her.

The brunette let out a gasp and tried to take it back, "Seifer, give that back!" The bully pushed her away, and pocketed the homework, shoving it into his jacket. Hayner leaped out of his seat to give Seifer a piece of his mind. His friends had been tortured by him for the years they'd been at high school. Hayner was no longer going to stand for it.

He put out his fist, aiming for Seifer's jaw, sadly, the big guy, Rai, protected his boss and grabbed the fist. Hayner threw his other fist but only for it to be stopped as well. "You can't hurt Seifer, y'know?"

Hayner pulled away. He would have cursed and swore and thrown more fists if an unexpected person didn't show up.

"Leave 'em alone, got it memorized?" Roxas and his gang turned to that voice: Axel. He walked up the Seifer, dressed only in jeans and a tank. Roxas could tell he just got out of the dressing room, for he still had on his jazz shoes and beads of sweat were rushing down his forehead.

"What? You want a piece of me too, twinkle toes? Oh! That reminds me…" Seifer turned to face his gang and Roxas, "I have a joke for you guys: What do you get when you cross a ruler with a gay guy?" There was a moment of silence that screamed 'what?' "Fruit-by-the-foot!"

Rai was the only one laughing, since Fuu did not show emotion. Vivi, who tagged along, did not quite understand. Roxas saw Axel's hand ball up into a fist, but it merely patted Seifer's shoulder. He pretended to laugh, "Hah, how funny…" His hand slipped over Seifer's shoulder and around it instead. "Why don't we take a walk outside?" Axel directed the blonde cur to the nearest exit; Rai reached out to stop him but a tall man, about his size with fried hair that stood up, was in the way. Seifer tried to free himself from Axel's hold, but gave up as a teen with blue hair came around and assisted Axel.

Those three soon disappeared as the end-of-lunch wave of people passed through, heading for their classes. "Holy shit," swore Roxas, his jaw dropping at what just happened. "They're going to kill him."

"What?" Hayner was looking from where Seifer was last seen to Roxas and back. "Who cares? If they kill him…well, it's no skin off my back!" He got up from his seat and Pence followed, both of them happy with the thought that their demon would leave them alone. Olette, on the other hand, had tears welling at her eyes. Discretion

"Olette, what's wrong?"

She sobbed, "My homework, it's gone. I won't have anytime to do it again, it's due next class!"

Roxas frowned and sympathized with her, "Don't worry, I'm sure your teacher will let you turn it in late, right? Besides, Seifer's gone; he won't be bothering us anymore."

The girl began to regain hope again and nodded, "Yeah." She smiled at Roxas, "Thanks Roxas, you always make me feel better!" Roxas smiled back and opened his arms, asking for a hug. Olette happily gave it to him.

* * *

I kinda rushed with the ending…got a little lazy. Really tired too! It's six am! Whee! Another all-nighter accomplished! 

I'm on my Christmas break now, (finally) so I should have more stuff updated! Be sure to look for this story because I'm just now getting more interested in writing it!

Also, I noticed this chapter ended the same way the last one did: at the end of lunch. I'll be sure next time it won't continue this little pattern.

And finally: a thanks to fullmetalguitar for editing this chapter for me! It's nice to give some people a break:D

Please review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


	4. MIA

Author's notes: I'm kinda in a bad mood when starting to write this…I hope that doesn't quiet affect anything. I was supposed to start writing this during Christmas Eve but…I got guitar hero and I've been addicted to that lately. But now, my fingers burn from damn chords that don't make any sense, so I let them take a break and type instead.

I think in this chapter I broke the fourth wall a bit. Or, more just brought the view somewhere else rather than following Roxas around. I hope it's not too weird.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 4:

M.I.A.

Roxas let his pencil hang loosely from his mouth, making it jerk up and down at his nervous chewing. His eyes darted back from clock to door and door to clock. He had just seen Olette at lunch, and then walked her to her psychology class. How was it she was not in the next class? Calculus; Olette enjoyed this class. Along with any other academic classes.

"_No way she could have gotten sick, she would never miss class,_" mused Roxas, now more vigorously chewing his pencil. Twenty minutes into the class and she was still not here.

"Don't tell me you're worrying about Olette, too?" Pence leaned over and whispered the blonde, trying to avoid getting caught by the teacher.

"Sadly, yes. This is so unlike her…" Roxas tried to stop thinking about it by focusing his attention to the front. His teacher, a man with long gray hair, lectured to the class as he wrote equations on the board.

Yet, without an attention deficit disorder, Roxas's mind still thought about other things. What did Axel do? Who was that guy that stopped Rai? What happened to Seifer?

These questions circulated through the boy's head, like a tornado. Little did he know, one of those questions was being answered right at this moment, elsewhere.

* * *

The avid pupil, Olette, had stayed behind in her psychology class to do some bargaining with her teacher, who luckily was lenient enough to let her turn in her homework tomorrow. She glanced at the clock: seven minutes of Calculus lost. No matter, Olette was a bright girl, she'd live.

But the intelligent girl gets side-tracked on the way to her class. She hears sobs coming from the bathrooms. The student inside her tells her she must go to class, but the human says she has to help. Lucky for the sobbing teen, Olette went with her conscious.

The girl walked towards the bathroom and peeks into the female's restroom. The crying gets softer as she puts her head in. The crying is not coming from the girl's bathroom, but the boy's. Olette stands outside the door to hear the sobbing more clearly. It was a males: (obviously) stifled, trying to be with held, scared to let anyone see, to protect their pride. The girl's green eyes stared at the figure symbolizing 'male' and took a deep breath. She pushed open the door and walked inside.

The sobbing instantly stopped at the sound of the door opening, "what the fuck?"

Olette gasped at the figure huddling over the sink and backed away, "Seifer?"

Seifer pulled away from the sink and reached for Olette's mouth. He covered it and made a 'shh' gesture. "Be quiet! You dare tell anyone, I'll…I'll..." Olette's green eyes were only an inch away from Seifer's teary blue ones. His eyes showed anger at the fact he had been caught crying, but at the same time, shame that someone had put upon him.

Seifer let go of the girl and walked to the other side of the restroom. He ripped off his black beanie and buried his face in it, hiding his tears. "Please leave," he asked, muffled by the hat.

Olette knew they were enemies but she could never leave a wounded animal. She reached out with her hand and placed it on Seifer's shoulder. His shoulders trembled at her touch and at the stifled sobs. "Please, just go." Olette took her other arm and wrapped it around Seifer, trying to comfort him. They've had their differences but she felt it was the time to end it.

Seifer's head lifted out of his beanie at the touch of Olette's head, leaned into his back. He looked over at the mirror and saw her eyes closed, her hands clutching at his body like he was going to disappear. Normally, he would have pushed her off and make some reference to her as a prostitute, but his broken soul could not do it.

"Please, let go. He'll do it again if he finds me near you or your friends." Olette's head pulled up, a baffled look on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Her eyes locked onto the scar on Seifer's forehead. "Did he do that?" Seifer's hand lifted up to touch the cut. He pulled his hand back down to find blood on his finger tips. The scar was bleeding again from being irritated instead of being left alone. Seifer was about to touch the scar again, but Olette pulled his hand away. "Don't touch it, you're making it worse." She let go and soaked some of the bathroom's towels. She brought the damp cloth to the boy's cut and lightly dabbed it, ridding it of most bacteria and blood.

Seifer could see the worry in Olette's face as she bit her lip. "Axel did it…and his friend." The girl stopped nursing him and drew her attention to his eyes, rather than his scar.

"Which friend?"

"The one with blue hair," he replied, nervously fidgeting with his hands. Olette wasn't _that_ dumb to have known they had done more.

"What else?"

"What else what?"

"What else did they do to you?"

Seifer's eyes adverted their gaze and he took a few steps back. "I can't tell you."

Olette walked forward, only to have the bully step away more, but stop when he bumped into the wall. "Please, tell me. I can't help you unless you tell."

The blonde grasped his head like a bullet of pain just exploded inside of it, the pain so intense, it made him cry. "No, don't make me." Seifer's knees gave out and he fell to the floor, sliding along the tiled bathroom wall. "They'll do it again…"

Olette dove to the ground and was immediately at his side. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close to her. "Ok, ok, you don't have to tell me…" She stroked his hair like a mother would do to a wounded child.

Seifer looked up at her, with pleading eyes he asked, "Olette, please take me away from here."

* * *

"Okay Olette…seriously getting worried here," Roxas complained, impatiently tapping his foot as he scanned the outside school area for his friend.

"You can make that double; this is freaking me out."

"So, are you guys trying to tell me that Olette went to her psychology class, but missed calculus and then history?" Hayner scratched his head, not entirely understanding the situation. "How do you know she didn't just…I dunno…go home?"

Roxas and Pence stared at him mockingly, "are you stupid? Olette _never_ misses school."

Pence joined in with Roxas, "especially when she's sick!"

"Well, here's an idea, why don't you call her?" Again, Roxas and Pence stared at him. Without an explanation, they both lifted up their cell phones, both reading they were calling Olette. "Oh…"

"Hey," Pence tugged on Roxas's sleeve, "there's Axel, maybe he's seen her!" Roxas elbowed him as payback.

"Now, why would he know. Or better yet, why would he care?"

Just as Axel passed the trio, he lifted his arm up and waved it, "hey, Roxer!" He continued his path to the student parking lot without stopping to have a conversation.

But Roxas chose to break that path, "hey, wait!"

Axel happily stopped, "what is it, buddy?"

Roxas couldn't help but to feel some form of embarrassment in front of his friends. "Uh, hey…have you seen my friend Olette? You know, the one with brown hair?"

Axel let out a chuckle, "yeah, the only girl you guys hang out again!"

"Yeah, her…have you seen her?"

"Nope! Sorry, can't help you there. But I'm sure she's ok." Roxas was confused. _"What would make him say that?"_ Before he could ask him anymore Axel turned to leave, "see 'ya tomorrow!"

Roxas turned to Pence with an un-amused look on his face, "well _that_ was helpful," he commented sarcastically.

"Well, it didn't hurt trying," he shrugged his shoulders and looked at his phone for the time. "Dang, we've been out here for thirty minutes and she's not out here."

Hayner let out a growl of frustration, "Roxas, as much as she's my friend, I hate school and I can't stand being here. I'm leaving." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, "so, you guys coming or not, 'cause I'd be happy to leave you here."

Roxas nervously bit his lip and look another glance around the area. "Well…I guess…it's her loss then. And besides, if she is still here, and we leave, then she can just call us…right?"

Pence smiled and agreed, "I guess that is true."

Hayner, who was on the impatient side was already walking into the student parking lot, "well? Your minds are made up right? Let's go!" Pence, as usual, was following right behind Hayner. Roxas looked up at the sky, hoping Olette was looking at the same sky, out of trouble and okay.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

"Mom? Dad?" Olette called out into an empty house, luckily, no one was home to see she had come home with a member of the opposite sex. Seifer, on the other hand, had made himself at home, throwing his back pack down and plopping himself on the couch. He buried his face in his hands and adjusted himself into the suede couch, so he was comfortable. Olette set down the keys in her hand and rushed into the kitchen for a glass of water. She came out and handed it to Seifer. "Drink this."

His hand came up and purposely knocked the glass out of the girl's hands. "No, thanks." Olette let out a light gasp and picked up the cup from the floor and placed it on the coffee table. She examined Seifer: he looked pitiful. A legal adult crying over an incident that happened at school. Although, Olette could not think these things, yet she first had to know what they did.

She kneeled on ground to Seifer and put a caring hand on his knee. "Seifer, what happened?"

Seifer looked up from his hand, his eyes, again, soaked in his tears. "If I tell you, you swear not to tell anyone…and not to laugh?" Olette nodded and he continued, "you saw how Axel started to take me away, his friend, I think Saix, came up next to me and got me in the gut. They pulled me to forest behind the school, you know, the place where all the druggies go. There they…" Seifer's voice cut off and he started to shake. He wrapped his arms around himself and gritted his teeth. "Please, don't make me tell you." He let out a single sob and looked directly in Olette's eyes for a full minute before breaking down.

Olette's natural maternal instinct forced her to pull Seifer into her arms. She held him tight, just as before in the bathroom, wishing this pain did not exist. Olette hated to admit it but she preferred the rude Seifer opposed to the broken one.

"No, it's ok. You can stop. You don't have to tell me anymore." Seifer let go of himself and began to calm down. He rested his head on Olette's shoulder and panted into her ear the terrible deed Axel and Saix performed on him. The girl's eyes widened with shock and she pulled away to look at Seifer. "Why?"

"They didn't like me making fun of 'their' kind. They wanted to teach me a lesson." As much as Olette wanted to scream at him 'you deserved it,' Axel and Saix had taken it too far, even for Seifer. After a moment of silence between them, the teen asked, "am I too much trouble? Should I leave?"

Olette shook herself out of her daze and smiled warmly, "no, no, you're not any trouble…here," she let go of him and laid him down on the couch. "You just rest, and try to forget today."

"But…they said they'll do it again if they see me near you or your friends…"

Olette got up, "well, then leave us alone. You can quit teasing us for a while, can't you?" Seifer didn't say anything except a grunt.

Olette turned to go get a pillow but was stopped, "could you…get me a glass of water?"

She sent a reassuring smile back at the teen laying on her couch, "sure."

* * *

"Axel, what did you do to Seifer," Roxas approached the stretching teen. He looked up with a confused look.

"Nothing, why do you ask?" He straightened out and put one over his shoulder and one below, stretching his upper arm muscles.

One of Roxas's blonde eyebrows raised, "nothing? But I saw you walk away with him with your arm around him. What did you do?" Roxas crossed his arms and examined him.

Axel let of his arms and shrugged his shoulders, "I brought him somewhere. As long as he's out of your hair, what does it matter, right?" Roxas was left in a corner; nothing left to say to prove a point. Axel had his point and there was nothing Roxas could say. Roxas should have been thanking him for taking away such a burden, but it was clear to him Axel handled this situation in a mischievous way. "Anyway, if you're done interrogating me, yesterday, before lunch, I was working on the duet you'll be doing with Namine. I'm going to teach you the first part. You ready?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and Axel smiled, taking it as a yes, not like he had a choice whether or not to learn it. _"Sneaky bitch…"_

* * *

"Something is wrong you guys. Olette is gone and no Seifer to push us around. This is starting to freak me out." Pence put down his bag of chips. He couldn't even think about food with his friend missing.

Hayner snorted, "please, why do you guys have to look a gift horse in the mouth? Everything is good. No Seifer to treat us like his little bitches, and no Olette to nag our heads off about our grades."

Roxas pulled his finger out of his ear while setting his phone down. "Olette's not at home; just called."

"Roxas…seriously, stop caring. You too Pence! Just…relax." Hayner smoothly picked up his can of soda and drank a large portion of it.

"Fine, I'll let it go," Pence looked down into his lap, ashamed of his careful personality, he looked up at Roxas who was chewing his the antenna on his phone. "Only if Roxas does."

Roxas looked over at Pence, "I give it one more day. If she's not here tomorrow, then I'm going to take action."

* * *

So tired…it can't be healthy to be sleeping at 5 or 6 in the morning and waking up at 4 in the afternoon.

Glad school isn't going to be here for like another week. :D

Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!

Please review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


	5. Bargaining

Author's notes: It's funny. I thought I was done. Not _completely_ done, but done enough where I could stop thinking about it. Personally, I like my other stories instead of this but this piece does have its ups and downs.

After chapter four was posted, I was relieved. Relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about updating because everything was on track. So, I sit down and read Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Quirky book, I like it, my style. Just as I read another short story I start thinking about writing. I replaced the words on the page with my own words, and before I know it I had to put the book down and start writing this instead.

_Talk about taking a break…_

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 5:

Bargaining

"**Roxas!**" The teen jerked his head up to see a shoe flung at his face. Jazz shoes are nice and flimsy but it still felt like being smacked by a leathery whip.

"Ow…that hurts you know!"

"Well," Axel towered over Roxas, his hands on his hips, very angry, "maybe if you were counting and not thinking about your girlfriend, I wouldn't have to hurt you!"

Roxas immediately took defense against the word 'girlfriend,' "she's not my girlfriend! She's my…female best friend!" He looked over to see the girls snickering at him, stopping their practice to see the fall out between the two males.

"Whatever," Axel rolled his eyes and picked his shoe off the floor, "quit worrying and work! Get it done right and you won't have to do it anymore." He walked ahead of Roxas and danced in front of him as a demonstration so he knew what to do.

But, Axel was right: he was worrying...still. It was affecting his whole day, his work habits and his dance performance. Although, Roxas did say he'd give it one more day before _really_ worrying.

Again, Roxas missed his cue and stood in place for two beats longer than he should have. "**ROXAS!**" The blond began to back away from the Axel who was moving towards him with shoe in hand.

* * *

"Dude, maybe you should be worrying about yourself instead of Olette!" Hayner laughed as Roxas pressed his soda can against his cheek. 

"Shut up! Anyway, Pence," Roxas turned his conversation to Pence since Hayner would not listen to anymore talk about Olette. "I called her house last night and her parents answered. They said she was out at a late night study group with some 'friends.'"

Pence frowned, "as much as I wish that was the truth, I'm pretty sure that was a lie she made up."

"Whoa? Good 'ol Olette lying?" Hayner interrupted.

"What? You care now?" Roxas leaned over the table, staring down Hayner.

"Look, I know I was a jerk yesterday but I'm not heartless. I'm startin' to believe you guys. Maybe something did happen to Olette." Hayner looked down at his hands, ashamed of the way he'd been treating his friends. Luckily, it wasn't too late to change.

Pence smiled and continued, "just to be sure, let's go by Olette's classes and see if she's been maybe just stopping by and, god forbid, she miss anything of schoo- yikes!" Pence jumped out of his seat, looking at his jeans pocket with surprised eyes. He ripped out his vibrating phone and flipped it open. "It's from Olette!"

"Speak of the devil," commented Hayner. He leaned over the table, trying to listen in on the conversation.

"It's a text message. It says: '_Don't worry about me. I'm okay.'_" There was silence around the table. Roxas looked around the lunch room; it was too well executed. Perfect timing only existed in a perfect world and high school was far from perfect. "This is weird…" Pence put the phone on the table, showing them the message. "Look at the message."

Hayner picked up the phone to get a better look, only to have it snatched out of his hand by Roxas. "Hey man! I was _kinda_ looking at that!"

Roxas was confused. He pulled out his phone and looked at previous messages from Olette. He picked one from the weekend before that read:

'_Hey, do you guys want to go to a movie?_'

As a double check, Roxas looked at another message from last week:

'_Can't do anything on Friday, I'm going to the animal shelter to help._'

Roxas turned back to Pence's phone and read the message:

'_dnt wrry bout me im ok'_

Roxas handed the phone to Hayner, "this wasn't typed by Olette. Unlike some people, Olette actually has some care for the English language."

Hayner handed the phone to the owner, "so are you saying someone probably jacked her phone?"

"Obviously."

"But what if she was just in a hurry?" Pence argued, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

"She knows how to use 'T9.' There's no need to rush when you got that."

Again, the table was silent in thought, trying to piece together what happened to their friend. Roxas looked up to see a muscular teen turn his head just as Roxas made eye contact with him. He examined the guy, it was Rai, and in his right hand, lowered to his side was a phone. "Shit, why am I so stupid?" Roxas flipped open his phone and speed dialed Olette. He watched to see any reaction Rai would have. After two rings, there was no reaction. That was not Olette's phone in Rai's hand.

The phone next to Roxas's ear was still ringing, waiting for the other line to pick up. After a few more dialing tones, it went to Olette's voice mail. "Olette, please call us, we're worried about you! It's not like you to miss school. Please call back." Roxas inhaled, about to say something else, but instead, hung up the phone. _"What's the use," _he thought, remembering the numerous messages he and Pence left yesterday. Roxas let out a sigh and looked at his background picture on his phone before stuffing it away: Hayner, Pence, and Olette, all making goofy faces at his house the weekend Roxas got his new camera phone. He smiled, remembering how he spent the afternoon snapping random shots that would mean nothing to an outsider.

_"Please, be okay…"_

* * *

"Seifer, I know you're upset but I can't keep my friends like this. They're worried about me, just like how Rai, Fuu, and Vivi are worried about you! Please, let me call them!" Olette pleaded to Seifer who held his phone in one hand and Olette's in the other. 

She reached forward to take it from him but he evaded her swipe. "And what? You're going to tell them what they did to me!" Seifer yelled at the poor girl. She took her hand back and balled them into fists, her body tensing up, enduring the sound. How she wished her ears would just fold into themselves to dull the roar of the beast.

Olette had been manipulated by him, only showing sympathy because of what had happened to him, but his reaction was more overwhelming than tender. She fought back, her shield to protect from the blade: "No, I'm not!" She said sternly, stamping her foot down, "why the _fuck_ would I tell them?" Olette stepped back, her hands covering her mouth. The sweet girl rarely let a bitter word escape her mouth. She must have been around Hayner too much.

Seifer let his anger go, replaced by confusion. "Did you just cuss at me?" He cocked an eyebrow and pointed at himself with a phone, dumbfounded by the whole situation. The girl nodded and let her hands fall to her sides, regaining composure.

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little worked up." She took a deep breath and tried again, this time more calmly. "Please, I let you pick me up from my house this morning, I went to the clinic with you, I stayed until your results came back, and I allowed you to take me to your place." She paused, making sure no part of her day was left out. "Can I _please_ go home?"

Seifer looked down at his feet and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath like Olette had done and counted to ten. When he was ready, he opened his eyes but talked to his feet. His words came out as a mumble.

"What?" Olette leaned in to hear him better, "what did you say?"

"Yes." Again, the words were cropped.

"Yes?"

Seifer looked up and spoke into her eyes. "Yeah, I'll take you home."

Olette wished she could have changed her request to school, but it was too late and she didn't want to frustrate the teen. "Thank you," she whispered.

The blond handed her the cell phone back while pocketing his own. Olette took it and held it to her chest. A cell phone, although just another electronic device, was more than just a way to communicate. It was a line that ensured you'll never be alone.

Seifer pulled out his keys and walked out the front door, Olette following him out and to the car. She sat down inside, her stuff was left on the passenger's seat. They rode in silence. Neither of them knew what to say, or had _anything _to add. Seifer focused on the rode while Olette, who had been clutching onto her cell phone, now set the device next to her thigh as she dug in her backpack for the promised psychology homework. She frowned at it, disappointed she wasn't able to hand it in today. The driver glanced over, and recognized the piece of paper that was identical to the one he took the day before.

He would have apologized if they were not at their destination…_maybe_. "Is this it?"

Olette answered with a shy, "yes," as she shoved the homework back in her bag. She opened the door and got out, not saying anything. She walked up to her front door, never looking back. She opened her bag searching for keys, not thinking about an item she left behind.

She should have done the opposite of these things and maybe, just maybe things would not have been so complicated.

"Olette." The voice behind her was supposed to be in the car, driving away, never to mention this day to a soul.

"What?" This girl was supposed to be at school, eating lunch with her best friends and turning in her psychology homework.

Olette turned around and saw Seifer holding her phone to her face, "you forgot this." She grabbed onto the cell phone but didn't pull it away from him. Instead, she left her hand on top of his. Her cold, nervous fingers resting on top of his warm, bruised fingers. The kind one looked up into the cold-heart's eyes and stood there, staring instead of avoiding each other.

Seifer leaned in, decreasing the distance between their lips. He hesitated and stopped; close enough for both of them to match up their breathing. "Th-thank you," he whispered, his breath caressing the girl's lips. She debated whether it was right to close the gap or not. She, too, hesitated.

"You-you're welcome."

They should have been avoiding each other to save Seifer's sorry ass. They should have been at school, continuing their daily lives. They should have never let today happen…

…_they should have stayed enemies._

* * *

"Oh, thank god, it's you Olette!" Roxas let out a relieved sigh as he answered his phone and stopped his friends who were about to walk into her psychology class. He mouthed the phrase, 'it's her,' and they were also smiling with him. Pence tried to mouth questions to Roxas as Olette told an artificial story about the slang words in 'her' text message. Hayner who could not be patient, pulled the phone away from Roxas and put it to his ear. 

"Olette! What the hell?" His voice was cracking and his eyes glistened more than usual. "You had me-us worried!"

On the other side of the phone, Olette giggled, trying to hold back her tears. It was a relief for her to hear her friends' voices. "I missed you too, Hayner."

Hayner handed back the phone to Roxas as he turned away to rub his eyes. Pence came up from behind him and taunted him. Hayner could do nothing but push him away and command him to shut up.

"So, Olette, where did you go?" Roxas asked, walking away from the bickering boys.

"Me? I went home…I wasn't…feeling too good." Roxas could see through the deception with her hesitating. Also, it wasn't a very good lie. Illness couldn't even hold her back from ditching school, whatever the reason, it must have been important. But, he wasn't going to badger her about it.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You coming to school tomorrow?"

"Yes! Definitely! I don't think I'd live if I miss another day!"

Roxas smiled, "well, you get your rest. See you tomorrow." He hung up the phone and stuffed it away. Hayner and Pence approached him eagerly, wanting to know what was wrong. "She was sick." Hayner cocked an eyebrow. "_Really_ sick."

"Roxas!" The blond turned to the sound of his name. By the time he made a full 180, Axel grabbed his arm. "I finally found you! What are you doing?" He started to pull him away from his group. "We've got practice!"

Roxas thrust his arm back to his body, "what are you talking about? Ms. Gainsborough didn't say _anything_ about practice!"

Axel stopped and put a finger on his chin, and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh…you're right. She didn't…" he looked back down to Roxas and narrowed his eyes, "but _I_ did!" Axel grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"Hey, freak, leave him alone!" Hayner ran up and grabbed Roxas's other arm, playing tug-a-war with him.

Axel glared at him, "what did you just call me?"

"Freak, you heard me!" Roxas started nervously laughing and pulled himself out of Hayner's grip. Roxas feared the word 'freak' might have sparked some sort of revenge act in Axel's brain.

"Hey, hey, it's not a big deal. I'll go with him. We do have to-"

"Man, we had plans. Plus, Olette's at home, let's go visit her!"

"I'm sorry Hayner, maybe tomorrow!" Roxas called from the middle of the hall. Axel had been dragging him away as they argued.

Just before turning the corner, Roxas saw the look in Hayner's eyes: betrayed. "Okay, Axel, what's the big idea? You drag me away from my friends to a phony practice! You said nothing about this!"

"Sorry about that," he apologized, still dragging Roxas to the dance room. "I just found out the recital date was bumped up to next month."

The blond stopped and pulled his arm away. "**WHAT?**" he bellowed.

"Ms. Gainsborough decided instead of having all her dance classes perform at the end of the unit, she's going to have her Show Stoppers have a show to themselves with the sister high schools."

The Show Stoppers were the dance department's elite dancers. They auditioned, and if they were good enough, they got in. Axel would be apart of them if he wasn't a guy. The Show Stoppers specifically targeted girls since there were never any males who auditioned.

"What the hell? So, how much time do we have?" Roxas was freaking out. Although he did not care for dance, he was the one going to be on stage. If he wasn't any good, he'd look like a fool.

Axel took a deep breath, "three weeks. Fourteen class periods." He was just as stressed as Roxas; running his hand through his hair.

"Don't you mean fifteen?"

Axel shook his head, "no, today was fifteen but we can make up for lost efforts today if we practice." Roxas stared at his shoes and stood there. "Roxas? Are you okay?" Axel leaned in and grabbed onto his shoulders. He tried to get a good look at the boy's face. It was that of uttermost panic. "Don't worry, we'll get through this…we just need to practice. Namine's waiting. Let's-"

"No, I can't do this." Roxas fell to his knees and grabbed his head. "I can't do it!"

Axel squatted down to him and patted his back, "don't worry. It's not that hard. I'll coach you! We can do it!"

Roxas lifted his head at him. "No, _you_ can do it. What if I helped you?"

A puzzled look came across the dancer's face, "what are you talking about?"

"What if I helped get your grades up? That's the only thing holding you back from being on stage right?" Axel's eyes widened. Roxas was treating him like a starving dog, dangling a steak in his face. The dog had no choice but to take the bait.

"Yes…please…help me Roxas…"

* * *

It's only been like three days but I managed to write more! Whee! 

I hope everyone had a good New Years! I had chips and salsa while I watched anime! Good stuff :D

Hope you enjoyed!

Please review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


	6. Secret's Defeat

Author's notes: Yeah, this is really weird. I post chapter four, then, three days later, I finished chapter five! Then, chapter six? I dunno. Let's see how long it takes me to write this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters.

Enjoy and review!

* * *

Chapter 6:

Secret's Defeat

"So, you're off the hook?"

Roxas nodded at Hayner as he took a bite of his sandwich. It felt good for all four of them to have the 'ol gang back together. It was as if nothing had happened. "During dance, I spent the whole time helping Axel with his homework! The teacher didn't even notice!"

"That's good; now you don't have to humiliate yourself in front of everyone!" The table laughed, but the only female stopped as she felt a rumble in her pocket. She looked down and saw her phone brightly lighting up through her pants. Confused by who would be texting her, she immediately pulled out her phone. She flipped open her phone and kept it under the table. A good thing, too. It instructed her to go to the gym. The message didn't give any details, just the order.

"Hey, you guys," Pence interrupted, "that new ice-cream place opened up! We should all head over there after school. You know, as, like, some sort of celebration for Olette's return!"

Olette looked up from her phone at the sound of her name and smiled at Pence. "You're not going to make me pay for you again, are you?"

Pence shook his head and jerked his thumb toward the other two. "I won't, but I think these guys will!"

Olette pouted, but Hayner made up a reasonable excuse. "Well, it _is_ my car that's driving us there."

She looked over at Roxas for his excuse. "Well…uh…" He looked around the cafeteria and tried to change the subject. "You know how great it felt _not_ to dance?"

The girl smiled softly. "It's okay. I don't mind paying for you." There was a moment of silence and she added, "As long as you pay me back!" Olette got up from her seat and grabbed her backpack.

Hayner looked up at her, "Whoa, where are you going? We still have ten minutes."

It was now her turn to make an excuse. "I'm going to…my class, just to see what I missed. See you guys after school!" Roxas mumbled a "Good-bye" through his sandwich, Pence waved, and Hayner grumbled with disappointment.

"What's up with her?" complained Hayner.

"What do you mean?" retorted Pence. "Unlike you, she actually wants to finish school. She's probably going to get into a really good college."

Roxas swallowed his bite. "No, I think Hayner's right."

"How so?" asked Hayner, glad he was, for once, right.

"Yesterday, when she called me, something wasn't…I dunno. I could tell she was lying. But I don't know what would make her want to lie."

"Yeah," mused Pence, "She's told us _everything_. Like when her mom was in the hospital and that time when her parents split-"

"-And when her mom got remarried," finished Roxas.

Hayner scratched his head. "What should we do?"

"Well, she's our friend. She won't keep it from us for _too_ long. Let's just give her time."

* * *

Olette hurried down the hall, checking over her shoulder to see if anyone was behind her. Secrecy was the key.

_Bump_.

Maybe caution, too. "Girl, watch out!" Olette whipped her head forward to find Seifer's chest rdirectly in her line of sight. She jumped back and looked up at him. He snarled at her and continued to walk down the hall. "Come," he commanded.

"Sorry, didn't mean-"

Seifer silenced her with a "Shh" motion. "Do you want _him_ to see me with you?" he hissed.

They walked in silence, both of them paranoid, afraid anyone could see them. Luckily, everyone was too distracted by the rush of lunch to notice two bodies wandering away. They reached the end. Olette assumed this was the end of their journey and began to speak. "How did you get-"

"We're not there yet." The hall made a twist to the right and Seifer followed it. Olette followed behind him, this time keeping her mouth shut. She glanced at her watch; this trip cost her five minutes, so far. Thankfully, their destination, the exit, was ahead.

The sun was shining brightly that January day. There was a light breeze outside that caused the leaves to dance together in whirlwinds. The student parking lot could be seen, but not the police officer who was usually on duty to catch truancies; exactly what they would become if they stepped out that door.

"Wait, where are you taking me?"

Seifer noticed she was taking a few steps back; he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the door. "Come on; don't be so…" They fought against each other; Olette trying to free her wrist from the vice-like grip and Seifer close to dislocating her hand. "…persist-"

The battle ended as the girl slipped away, falling backwards onto the wrist she was trying to protect. She groaned in pain, "My wrist! It hurts!"

Seifer, who only ran into the door, immediately went to her side, "Olette, are you okay?"

Tears began to flow out of her eyes, "Does it look like I'm okay!?" she screamed. Her high-pitched wail bounced against the tiles and ceiling of the hall. Seifer tried to quiet her, afraid of getting caught. "What do you think you were trying to do? Why don't you talk to me instead of dragging me all over the place?" Footsteps could be heard from a distance, echoing just like Olette's scream. Seifer panicked and grabbed the girl's wrist, yanking her to the outside world.

Olette pleaded for him to slow down, but fear took control of his actions. The girl had no choice but to obey, since her injury was in his hands. They cut across the car pool lane, no one there, due to the fact that school was still in session, through the school garden and into the student parking lot. Seifer stopped at his car and checked behind him to see  
if anyone was there. He saw a speck of bright red in the distance.

"Olette, get in!" He let go but instead of getting in, he _helped_ her. He opened the door and grabbed her bag. The girl was shocked by the change of heart, but feared the distinct shift in personality. Seifer ran over to the other side and got into the car, throwing the backpack into the back seat.

He drove out of the parking lot like a madman, almost scraping his car against his fellow students. Olette began to panic with him, "Seifer, slow down, you're going to kill us!" She grabbed onto his arms while watching the road. He was speeding, cutting people off, and breaking numerous other road rules.

"No, I can't! He'll catch me!" Seifer took a glance behind him, and Olette nearly had a heart attack.

"**SEIFER, THE ROAD!**" He looked back forward and froze as Olette shielded her face for impact.

* * *

Hayner popped up next to his friends with a wide grin spread across his face. "Hey, you guys ready to go to the ice-cream place?" He turned to Pence, "I have no clue where this place is so you'll have to tell me."

"It's in the Twilight Shopping Square."

A light bulb turned on in Hayner's head. "Oh, you mean the empty place next to that medicine store?"

Pence smiled, "Yeah, that's the place. The empty place that's now an ice-cream shop."

Roxas licked his lips, thinking about the sweet goodie, but had a tinge of guilt as he thought about borrowing money from his friend. Thinking of her, he reached for his phone and called her. She immediately answered, "Roxas? What-oh! I'm sorry; I can't go to the ice-cream place. I'm…in the library…studying."

Roxas was surprised how quickly she reacted. "What do you mean? I thought we agreed on this. Besides, you can study afterwards."

"Sorry, maybe another time. I-" her voice seemed to have traveled away, "-Ow! That hurts!" Her voice came back, "Sorry, I'll call you later. A bit tied up." The line went dead without Roxas saying anything.

"Bad news, guys. Olette can't come." All eyes landed on Pence and he let out a sigh.

"I guess I can loan you guys…"

"Yes!" Hayner high-fived Roxas dragged Pence to the exit. "Let's go, pal. I've been waitin' all day for this!" Roxas bounced along, but stopped jumping in glee at the sight of a redhead waiting outside the front door of school.

"Sorry for showing up like this, guys," he began. "I need to steal Roxas from you again." Roxas nervously looked at his friends. Hayner nodded and Axel pulled the blond away from his friends. "Next Friday is grade check."

Roxas shrugged, "So what? That's plenty of time?"

"Plenty of time?" Axel repeated.

"Yeah, sure. When I want my grade higher, it usually only takes me a week."

"Only a week? For who? You or me?"

Roxas looked down at his feet and sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll tutor you today." He looked back up with a smile, "At least it isn't a total loss," he commented, thinking about Olette. "Hey, you guys," he called to his friends, "You go ahead without me. I gotta do some things." Hayner shrugged and walked away. He raised a hand to signal a good-bye.

"I have a paper I need to write, and my math homework is kinda like…'ick.'" Roxas smiled and began to reassure Axel as they walked to the library.

* * *

"I can't believe I lied…_again_." She looked over at Seifer who was more calmly driving the car. "And I can't believe we _survived_."

Seifer bit his lip, "How's your wrist?"

"Well…I think it might be sprained, no thanks to your grabbing!"

He pouted, "Well, it's not very polite to act as if you're going to crash when you're not. Especially if you're not the one driving!"

"But…it was so close! I could have sworn you were going to hit that car!"

"Forget about the car, let's take care of your wrist first." Olette looked down at her lap and blushed. It was a new experience. Seifer _caring_? It seemed almost unreal to the girl. Before she could question his kindness, he parked the car in front of a medicine store. "You have money, right?"

Olette nodded. "I won't take long," and exited the vehicle. She power walked up to the door, holding her wallet in hand as she pushed it open. Instead of wasting her time, milling in the aisles looking for something she could never find, she approached the front counter. An elderly lady looked at her and smiled.

"What can I do for you, child?"

"I need something for my wrist; I think I sprained it." The girl placed her arm on the counter and the woman leaned in to examine it.

"I have just the thing. Follow me." She slowly walked out from behind the counter and into one of the aisles.

Olette thought to herself, _"At this rate, I'll never get out of here."_

"Ah, here it is!" The old woman, with her shaky hands, gently pulled the box off the shelf and handed it to Olette. "When you get home, put some ice on that, and then put this wrap on. As you said, your wrist is sprained. Just keep this on for about a week." Olette pulled out some money from her wallet.

"How much do I owe you?"

The old woman smiled and pushed her money away. "You have such delicate hands, child. It would hurt me more to see your hand untreated than to be rightfully paid."

Olette put the money away and smiled back, "Thank you." She took the wrap and stuffed it into her healthy hand along with her wallet since she could not hold anything in her injured hand.

"Don't forget, child, the recipe 'R.I.C.E.,' " the old woman called as the girl exited. As Olette left, the wallet and wrap fell out of her hand. She let out a short gasp and dropped to the ground to pick it up.

"Olette!" She froze right on the spot. She knew whose voice that was. She knew she wasn't supposed to be here. She knew she had some explaining to do.

"Hayner," Olette said sweetly as she carried the things in one hand and forced the other to stay behind her back. "Uh…what are you doing here?"

Pence, who had followed Hayner, panted behind him, "We should be asking you that!"

Olette quickly glanced over at the car next to her. Seifer was waiting as he tried to keep low. Luckily, Hayner and Pence did not notice their enemy was sitting only a few feet away. "You guys, I had to go home. I'm going somewhere with my mom…like…now and I have to go…now." She turned her back to them but stupidly, also, flashed her hand to them.

"Olette, your wrist!" Hayner rushed forward and grabbed the bruised ligament. "What happened?"

The girl winced as she turned around, "I fell…down some…floor-I fell down on the floor!" She mentally cursed herself for telling so many lies. Soon, she would not be able to keep up with all of them.

Hayner let go and let her hand fall limply to her side, "Oh. Well, be more careful. It seems like these days you can't help but to get in some sort of trouble."

"Bye, Olette. Hope you get better," Pence said as he and his friend walked back to the ice-cream parlor. Olette waved back and rushed into the car when the two were a good distance away.

"Damn, I thought for sure they were going to see me," Seifer sighed as he pulled out of the parking spot.

Pence, on the other hand, was wondering how Olette had arrived at the Twilight Shopping Square. "Isn't Olette's mom a doctor?"

Hayner scratched his chin, "Yeah, I thought so, but maybe her dad took her. She looked like she was in a rush, so maybe she wasn't thinking."

"But isn't her dad _also_ a doctor?" The duo stopped and looked at each other. They had just been witnesses of Olette's lie.

They looked back toward where they had the conversation and saw their friend rushing into a beat-up, old, white car. As the car drove off, they were able to catch a glimpse of the driver. Both of them gasped in terror. "I gotta call Roxas."

* * *

"Axel, that's good. Just keep it up!" The blond felt a vibration in his pocket, which could be heard over the scribbling of Axel's pencil. "Excuse me for a second."

Roxas walked away from the table, out of hearing distance, and answered  
his phone. "Hey man, what's up? How's the ice-cream?"

"Screw the ice-cream! We just saw Olette!"

Roxas rolled his eyes, "Well, I wouldn't be surprised. She lied to me; she's not in the library." He frowned at the ridiculous habit his friend was making. Not only was he disappointed in her, he also felt hurt. They were best friends, proud and true. But, his friendship didn't mean anything to her, _obviously_.

On the other end of the phone, Hayner's jaw dropped. "Another lie? Well, I bet she has plenty more to explain because you won't believe who I just saw her with!"

Roxas raised an eyebrow and mockingly commanded, "Try me."

"Seifer." The blond turned to a busy Axel at the sound of that name. The lies, the skipping; it seemed to fit. Axel _had_ to have done something.

"Hayner? Can I call you back? I'm going to get to the bottom of this." He hung up the phone without a response and sat down at the table. "Axel, you're already getting better! Even after _two_ study sessions. If you keep these study habits up, I'm sure your grades will be much better than passing by Friday!"

The red-head smiled and lightly blushed. "Thanks Roxy! You're a really good tutor!"

Roxas smiled back and also had a little pink on his cheeks, "I'm glad you think that. Lemme quiz you. You have a test tomorrow in English, don't you?" Axel nodded and he proceeded, "Well then, question one: Who is the protagonist of the story?"

The dancer happily answered, "Edna Pontellier!"

"That's right! Number two: who is she madly in love with?"

Again, he answered along with some confidence, "Roger!"

"Roger who?"

"Roger Lebrun."

"You're doing great! Number three," Roxas fiercely got up and leaned over the table into Axel's face, "What the hell did you do to Seifer?"

Axel yelped and leaned away. He sat there for a moment, looking into the fury of Roxas's sweet blue eyes. "What do you care? I don't understand…"

"Whatever you did, it's affected Olette, too. She's not acting the same," he snarled.

"Now, Roxy-"

"Roxas!" he corrected.

"Right…Roxas, what does 'Omelet's' weirdness have to do with what I did to Seifer?" he snickered.

Roxas let out a triumphant 'hah' in his face, "so, you _did_ do something to Seifer!"

Axel let out a chuckle, "I never denied it." The blond grabbed his essay and threatened to rip it apart. He stopped laughing and stood up from his chair, "you wouldn't dare!"

"**Tell me what you did!**" Roxas's scream rang throughout the library. Luckily, no one was there to hear it.

Axel ran his hand through his hair and sat back down. "Fine, I'll tell you." With paper still in his hands, Roxas took a seat and intently watched the dancer. "We took him to the woods behind the school and we…roughed him up a little."

"Are you the one who gave him the scar on his face?"

Axel shamefully looked down at the ground. "Yeah. Saïx brought a knife and I just…_used_ it."

"Saïx is the one with the blue hair, right?"

"Right," he confirmed.

"Is that it? I didn't see so many bruises the times I passed by him."

Axel's heart began to beat faster and his blood began to rush. "Saïx…hurt him."

"Not you? But you were with him. Are you saying you just watched?"

"Yeah…well…no…I did some things too…like the cut on his face and the ones on his legs."

Roxas scowled, "you cut him on his legs?"

"And back…maybe once on his neck…"

"Why?"

"I was…"

"High," Roxas assumed, since Axel _was_ in the forest were druggies mostly hung out.

"…aroused." The red head looked at his hands, embarrassed by his own answer.

Roxas leaned away. "What the hell?"

Axel shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His cheeks were a turning a red as bright as his hair. He looked into Roxas's eyes, showing him the pain from the secret he'd been holding back. "Me and Saïx raped him."

* * *

FINALLY! THE SECRET IS REVEALED!! MWAHAHA!

Sorry, it's kinda…'eep!' I think I might change the rating to M. But  
I'm  
not quite going into detail about anything so I'll keep it Teen.

If anyone's wondering, those questions Roxas asks are about a book called The Awakening, that I am currently reading against my will.

Hope you enjoyed!

Please review!

_-Lady of the Cards-_


End file.
